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Hodgson: Pochettino and I are ‘footballing souls’

Roy Hodgson has spoken of the similarities between himself and Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino.

The Crystal Palace boss will come up against the Tottenham manager on Sunday when the former England coach returns to Wembley.

The 70-year-old revealed his affection for the stadium he returns to in a competitive capacity for the first time since leaving the England job.

“It only has good memories,” he said. “I am looking forward to going back.

“Ray (Lewington, my assistant manager) and I were talking on the way home (from Spurs’ 3-1 defeat of Real Madrid) and said we miss it. It is a privilege to lead your country as manager and play your matches at a stadium like Wembley. It doesn’t get any better than that.

“The atmosphere that night of the Poland game, the fact we won and qualified for the (2014) World Cup, that would be the best memory.”

Sunday’s fixture also pits him against Pochettino and midfielder Harry Winks, both of whom he met while England manager and quickly admired.

“(Me and Pochettino) are footballing souls and have a similar philosophy on how we think it should all be done,” he said.

“We talked at length about what we were trying to do and how we wanted to play. We both thought we were doing the job properly.

“One day (two years ago) we were training (at Tottenham) and needed to loan a midfielder to help us do a coaching session. They sent Harry over, and he was very impressive. If you’d been watching, I don’t think you’d have picked him out as the young kid who’d been called up (to join England’s senior team). He took to it straight away.”